Slow Day, but Cool with Wind

A face that strikes fear in the heart of trout ....... unfortunately, does the same for women and small children.

I spent 7 hours on the lake yesterday. Although it was beautiful with a good, cooling wind, it wasn't a productive day -- but better than not on the water. I landed 3 smaller 12" fish, lost one, and missed 4 strikes. I fished midges mostly, moving around upstream from the Pine Cove island. The evening was beautiful. One guy in a float tube picked up 4 or 5 fish in the area, on squirrel tail leeches. He was able to troll around and pick up fish. I just flailed the water and spooked anything around me lol

However, it was a great day on the water. I'm in better health this summer and spending 7 hours on the boat is no big deal -- lots of water on ice in the cooler and the fish finder gives me pleasure watching the little fishes swim by on the screen. If the fish finder is correct, most of the fish were right on the bottom during the day and about 1/4 of them were half way up the water column in the evening -- seems to make sense.
Well, I'm back home cleaning the apartment, petting the cats, getting my truck fixed (radiator hose leaking), and just enjoying the end of July.

Take care all

A summer of TENNIS

Well, here it is July 27 and it is only my 5th day at Lewiston since my vacation started on June 4. This has been a summer of tennis. I have been giving 3 hour practices every Thursday and Friday, running tournaments every other weekend, and spent a weekend in San Diego attempting to become a USPTA certified tennis pro (results come in the mail in 3 weeks).
I came up after the 4th of July and fished the evenings between 7 and 9 PM. The first night I caught my largest fish ever (other than a steelhead) -- at least 4 pounds and closer to 5. I saw a fish sip a fly and threw out a blackberry mohair leech and bam -- 5 minutes or more with jumps and spinning my line off the reel. It was longer than my net and I spent 5 minutes reviving it to watch it swim away nicely. That night I had a 2-2-1 (two landed, two lost on the way to the boat, and one missed strike). The next night I found a great spot and the blackberry leech netted 10 fish with 2 lost (when numbers get high I forget about the number of missed grabs). The following night I had a 4-8-? night, with the 8 fish "lost" all larger than two pounds. Most of the fish took to the air and spit out the barbless hook.
Yesterday, the 26th, I finally caught a fish on a midge. About 3:00 there was a hatch on and little surface activity. The fish were hammering a size 18/20 tungsten head zebra midge, 12 feet under a bobber, floating with the current. I ended up with a 4-5-12 -- 4 fish landed including 3 over 3 pounds, 5 fish lost on the way to the net, and 12 strikes missed (hate when they hit and run toward the boat -- can't set the hook. Attached are two pictures, one of the view towards the dam and the beauty of the area, and one "fish porn" shot of the 4-pounder landed yesterday (top to bottom was more than 5 inches -- wider than my palm. Oh yeah, last Sunday was the Pine Cove Fish Derby and they released 500 large fish so everybody is catching big ones. Can't beat the beauty and the beasts.